Identical Strangers
by Prince Arjuna
Summary: When a girl who looked like her emerged from a glowing portal thing at the corner of her room, it was only natural for poor little Bernie to assume that she was there to kill her and take her place. Because what else would happen when a girl who looked like her emerged from a glowing portal thing at the corner of her room? Bernadetta and Morgan friendship fic.


In hindsight, Laurent should've seen this one coming.

While Morgan was definitely a tactical genius of her generation, inheriting the bright mind of her father, Robin, she wasn't one to think things through. Voices of concern from her friends, mainly Laurent and Lucina, were swiftly ignored in favor of her single goal.

Searching for her lost father.

It had been many months since the final battle against the Fell Dragon, Grima, and while the dragon was finally vanquished, her father disappeared with it after delivering a killing blow to it. Many believed that he was still out there, still alive, but after many months of waiting, Morgan grew restless and ran out of patience. She wasn't the one to stay idle and do nothing while she knew that her beloved father was still out there, still lost.

So, the young genius embarked on a journey to search for clues, moving from place to place in order to locate her missing father. Her friends did offer some help to locate the legendary tactician, but Morgan was too absorbed in her search that her friends started to worry for her.

Eventually, Morgan came to a conclusion that perhaps her father was lost in somewhere far, far away, beyond time and space. The theory of alternate dimensions was prevalent among the scholars, and there was even the fact that everyone from her group came from the future. The realization did little to discourage Morgan from continuing her search for her beloved father, and after many sleepless nights, with the help of Laurent, she managed to figure out the most probable location of her father's whereabouts.

"I honestly believe this is a bad idea, Morgan…" Laurent said to her as they stood in front of the gate of Outrealm. "While it is probable that you may find your father, there is still quite a huge chance that this may backfire. It is not too late for you to step back and reconsider."

Morgan huffed as she listened to her friend's concern. She crossed her arms over her chest rather stubbornly. "You worry too much, Laurent! We went through all those troubles researching and calculating stuff, and now you're telling me to back down?"

Laurent coughed into his fist. "No, I do not imply such thing. I worry about you, Morgan. This could end up badly for you, and I could not, in good conscience, allow such a thing happen to you."

While Morgan was a tad touched by her friend's concern, she was still adamant in her decision. "Even so, I'm going. And I believe in you, Laurent. I know you did a great job figuring out this stuff." Then, she grinned as she adjusted her robe that she wore. "I know I can find my father. I'm sure of it."

Laurent was astonished by the faith that Morgan had put in him, and he just let out a resigned sigh. "Very well. I suppose I cannot convince you to back down. Still, be careful. I don't think I can bear to face Lucina and the others if something were to happen to you…" There was a reason why there was only Laurent with her at the moment.

Morgan gave her friend an apologetic smile, knowing that she had left him quite a herculean task. "I'm sorry that I'm leaving the job of calming down Lucina and the others to you. But I know you can do it." She brought her hand onto the mage's shoulder.

"I'll see what I can do…" Laurent replied coolly. "Though I hope Kjelle will not end up breaking me in half after learning that I allowed you to go through with this scheme."

"G-good luck, I guess?" Morgan said, imagining all sorts of things Kjelle would do if she learned what had transpired here.

"You too," Laurent nodded. "Please, be safe." He pleaded, and the young tactician nodded.

"You got it!" Morgan said before she turned around. She already packed her things up, storing them in her pouches. A few vials of vulneraries, a sword, a tome and a dragonstone, as well as a sealed tome that she should only open during emergencies. After bidding her farewell to Laurent, she stepped into the entrance of the gate of Outrealm, expecting herself to continue walking through the light.

She didn't expect to fall.

* * *

Bernadetta von Varley was in her room, refusing to go out, knowing that the world outside was dangerous for her. She sighed, wondering if she might have offended the goddess in her past life for her current predicament. To be basically kidnapped by her own mother and was forcibly enrolled into the Officer's Academy against her wishes, she knew that the goddess was deliberately tormenting her for the transgression that she might have done somewhere at some point of her past life.

That was why she was in her room, unwilling to go out, fearing that she might find herself facing death at every corner. She knew that everyone out there was out to get her despite the lack of any substantial proof. She only went out of her room to attend classes or to the dining hall to get herself something to eat. But she mostly spent her time cooped in her room, away from other people.

She was fine with this arrangement. While there were some of her classmates who encouraged her to get herself out more, she was more comfortable staying in her own room where she was safe, away from any judging eyes, away from those who would do her harm, nobles and commoners alike. Sometimes, she wished she could be more confident like her classmates; outspoken, courageous and able to tackle every problem without having to cower in fear.

But for poor old Bernie, it was impossible. She couldn't stand being in the middle of people. She couldn't stand those prying eyes that could see every inch of her. She was already vulnerable as it was, and being exposed to those eyes would surely put herself to certain death. She knew in one way or another, those people would see how hateable she was.

"Well, at least the pillow won't hate me…" Bernadetta muttered to herself, grabbing the pillow and hugging it. She was safe in her room, and nothing in this room would harm her in any way. Well, except those needles and scissors if she mishandled them, but that was beside the point. She plopped herself onto her bed, wondering if this was the right time for her to get out and head to the dining hall to get herself something to eat. She needed to get out at the right time, or else the dining hall would be crowded with students.

Bernadetta shuddered by just thinking about it. She wasn't sure if she could handle going through the crowd to get herself some food, and she wasn't eager to find out. Sighing again, she decided that she might as well take a nap while she was at it. Just a catnap, one would say, and once she woke up, it would be the right time for her to fetch her food.

But, as soon as she was about to close her eyes, there was a strange noise coming from the corner of her room, She quickly sat up and looked at the corner, and her eyes widened when she saw some kind of glowing… thing growing in size. She squeaked in terror, frantically scooting back as she held up her pillow like a shield. She had no idea what it was, but if there was one thing she was very sure of, she knew that she would die.

Perhaps this was the judgment that the goddess saw fit to administer to her for whatever transgression she might have done at some point of her life, or the past one. Tears started gathering in her eyes and she found herself unable to breathe. She always knew that she would die here in the monastery, but that didn't make it any less frightening. She wished she could just close her eyes and wait for the inevitable, but for some reason, she couldn't look away from the glowing portal thing before her.

She could feel her life flashed before her eyes. Her miserable, unfulfilling life, which would soon be ended by whatever that would come out of the glowing portal thing. The images of her father yelling hateful things lingered in her mind, telling her that she would always be a useless, unmarriageable girl.

And then, a girl came out, and the glowing portal thing closed. "Ugh!" The girl grunted as she landed chest first onto the floor, and Bernadetta could only stare as she looked at the girl before her.

Grumbling about falling for almost an hour, the girl then picked herself up, and Bernadetta realized that the girl was around the same age as her. And, much to her shock, the girl seemed to resemble her in many ways, even her messy hair, though her hair was green in color rather than purple. When the girl was on her feet, dusting her oversized coat, Bernadetta could see that the two of them were almost identical to each other.

"Well, there's that. Now then…" the girl muttered to herself before she saw Bernadetta, and she looked bewildered for a second before she flashed a smile. "Ooh! You look a lot like me!" She started. "Sorry for barging in. My name is Morgan Odessa Lowell! Who are you?"

Bernadetta fainted.

* * *

Slowly, Bernadetta opened her eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of her own room. She remembered passing out but she didn't remember the reason of it. Slowly, she sat up and scratched the back of her head, trying to figure out how long she had been asleep.

Then, she remembered what had happened before, and she somehow let out a chuckle, thinking that it might be a dream. At the very least, it should be a dream. After all, having your own doppelganger coming out of some kind of glowing portal thing should be a dream.

"Oh, you're awake!"

Bernadetta almost jumped out of her skin when she heard someone's voice beside her. She looked aside and almost screeched in terror as she saw the green-haired version of her, smiling at her while sitting on a chair. She seemed to have taken off her long coat, exposing her sleeveless undershirt.

"W-who are you?" Bernadetta asked, almost close to freaking out.

"Me? I already told you before, my name is Morgan. You passed out, though, so I guess that's understandable that you already forgot about it. I watched you while you were sleeping, by the way," the girl said.

Bernadetta was confused beyond belief, and she believed that whoever this Morgan was, she was here to kill her and take her place. At this point, she was too weak to fight back, and she drooped her head in resignation.

"I-if you want to kill me and then take my place, j-just make it quick…" Bernadetta said despondently. "I knew this is going to happen to me, b-but if you have a smidgen of mercy in you, p-please make it quick and painless."

"What?" The girl, Morgan, gave her a bemused look.

"I know this is probably asking for too much, but can you kill me while I'm asleep? That should be painless enough for me. A-and… p-please don't make a mess, o-okay? I don't think the workers here will appreciate it if they have to wash the blood off my sheet. They are already overworked as they are right now…" Bernadetta added. If she was to die, at the very least she didn't want to give the workers too much work. That was the least she could do for these people.

"Wait, wait… what are you talking about?" Morgan brought one hand up, stopping Bernadetta from saying anything she might regret later. "Killing you? Why would I do that?" She asked.

"B-because you suddenly showed up here and wanted to take my place?" Bernadetta answered nervously.

"Take your place?" Morgan quirked an eyebrow before she realized what this was all about. "Huh. I guess we really do look alike. Strange, huh? Still, that's ridiculous. Why would I want to kill you and take your place?"

"I-I don't know! You're the one who suddenly showed up here, not me!" Bernadetta said.

Morgan sighed. "Look, I'm not sure what's going on here and where in Naga's name I am right now, but I swear I'm not here to kill you or take your place. Do I look like some kind of deranged killer to you?" She pointed to herself as she asked Bernadetta.

"Um, n-no? B-but you could be faking it!" Bernadetta sputtered, and her green-haired doppelganger sighed again.

"Okay, before we do something we may regret later, why don't we take a deep breath and calm ourselves down so that we can talk to each other without thinking about me killing you?" Morgan suggested. She tried to be as gentle as she could be, hoping that the other girl would calm down. So, the two of them took some deep breaths and a few moments. Once Bernadetta relaxed a bit, Morgan smiled. "See?"

"Uh, y-yeah…" Bernadetta conceded, though she was still looking at Morgan with apprehension. It was understandable, but at the very least she was no longer crying about being killed or anything like that, which was an improvement.

"So, let's start from the beginning…" Morgan began. She tried to emulate the way her father spoke to make sure that the other girl wasn't spooked. "Let's start with your name first. Then, tell me about this place…"

* * *

Morgan listened to Bernadetta patiently. She had learned about her name and this place, the Garreg Mach Monastery as well as Fódlan, the name of the continent where the monastery was located. The young tactician listened to the shy noble intently, making mental notes about this place, knowing that the information would be valuable later.

"I see…" Morgan mused, stroking her chin. "So, this place is a school, huh? No wonder you're wearing a school uniform right now."

Bernadetta watched the green-haired girl before her, somehow curious about her despite her nervousness. She somehow had the same face as hers, which disturbed her a little, though that was the only resemblance they had. Putting aside the colors of their hair, the two of them seemed to have different personalities, with Bernadetta being shy and withdrawn and Morgan being confident and outgoing.

"Um… h-how about you?" Bernadetta decided to ask, steeling herself for whatever would come next.

"Me? Well, this is probably going to be quite a shock to you, but I'm not from around here…" Morgan started. "In fact, I don't think I'm from this world either. Tell me, Bernadetta, are you familiar about the concept of multiple universes?"

"Multiple universes? Uh… w-well, I-I'm not sure…" Bernadetta admitted. It just sounded too crazy for her to comprehend, but how else she could explain the fact that Morgan was in front of her at the moment?

"Hmm, okay… imagine this is a universe," Morgan balled her right hand into a fist. "And the continent of Fódlan happens to be here…" she said, tapping the knuckle of her balled fist with her finger. Then, she balled her left hand into a fist. "And this one is another universe, and I happen to come from this particular universe. Let's just say I jump from this universe to your universe." Then, she ended it with a shrug. "And that's how I ended up here."

Bernadetta gave her a look, unsure whether to believe her or not. It sure sounded like one of those outlandish stories that she always read.

"A-and… why are you here?" Bernadetta asked, still feeling skeptical about the whole thing.

"About that… well, I'm searching for my father. He's been missing for a while…" Morgan answered. "I did some calculations and stuff like that, and the result brought me here. I'm not even sure if I can find him here or not, but that's the only thing I can do right now."

Bernadetta nodded to herself. It seemed that the mysterious girl was looking for someone dear to her; her father.

"Still, I'm not sure how to proceed from here. I mean, this is a school, right? People are going to get suspicious if someone like me suddenly showing up out of the blue…" Then, Morgan looked at Bernadetta, and she seemed to figure something out. "Unless…"

"Um…" Bernadetta was confused when a grin showed up on Morgan's face. "M-Miss Morgan…?"

"Say, Bernadetta… I have an idea, but this will require your full cooperation…" Morgan began. "I'm not sure how and why, but both you and I look similar to each other, right? And I happen to know the right spell on how to change the color of my hair, so…"

"S-so?" Bernadetta squeaked, growing even more nervous than before.

"You don't mind if I borrow your uniform, right?" Whatever plan Morgan might have concocted inside her head, Bernadetta had no way to refuse it. "What do you say, Bernie?" Morgan said, grinning playfully. "I get to explore outside, and you get more time to stay in your room. It's a win-win situation!"

"…Eep." That was the only thing Bernadetta could say.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, I played Fire Emblem Three Houses and saw that Bernie almost looks like Morgan. I won't say I came up with this idea on my own, but I still want to write the story about Morgan and Bernie. I hope you guys will like this. Please look forward for the next chapter!

**Additional Note:** Did a little edit.


End file.
